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Misguided Measures

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Misguided Measures Misguided Measures The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon’s Youth The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is a national organization dedicated to ending the practice of prosecuting, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under the age of 18 in the adult criminal justice system. CFYJ serves as a clearinghouse of information on youth prosecuted as adults and makes its tools and resources available to those interested in learning and taking action on an issue that personally affects them. CFYJ gratefully acknowledges the funders who support our work, including: Annie E. Casey Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, Falk Foundation, Ford Foun- dation, Fund for Nonviolence, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Public Welfare Foundation, The California Endowment, Tow Foundation, and indi- vidual anonymous donors. Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ) is a statewide advocacy organization that was founded in 1999. PSJ has developed a pioneering model for our work that brings together all of those most directly affected by crime—survivors of crime, people convicted of crime, and the families of both—to advocate for a system that builds safer, healthier communities. PSJ is the first advocacy organization in the country to unite all of these constituencies. PSJ would like to thank the fol- lowing foundations and organizations for their support: Ford Foundation, Fund for Nonviolence, Meyer Memorial Trust, Northwest Health Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Public Welfare Foundation, RiverStyx Foundation, Social Justice Fund Northwest, Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock and Western States Center. Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................. 3 Chapter 1 Introduction – Measure 11 for Juveniles: What We Knew Then, and What We Know Now .................................................. 9 Chapter 2 History: Measure 11 and Automatic Transfer in Oregon ...................................... 17 Chapter 3 Overview: Pathways to Adult Court for Oregon Youth ........................................ 25 Chapter 4 Outcomes: Guilty as Charged? ....................................................................... 29 Chapter 5 The Disproportionate Racial & Ethnic Impact of Measure 11 ................................ 39 Chapter 6 Pretrial Detention: Adult Jails or Youth Detention Centers? ................................. 51 Table of Contents Table Chapter 7 Aftermath: Long-Term Impacts of Adult Convictions .......................................... 57 1 Chapter 8 Public Safety: Did Measure 11 Make Our Communities Safer? .............................. 69 Chapter 9 Recommendations ...................................................................................... 79 Methodology .......................................................................................... 83 References ............................................................................................. 85 Misguided Measures: The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon’s Youth 11 on Oregon’s and Impacts of Measure The Outcomes Misguided Measures: 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Oregon has taken a major step forward in making the juvenile justice system a model for the rest of the country. As this report went to press, Oregon legislators passed House Bill 2707, which allows youth to be held in juvenile detention facilities rather than adult jails as they await trial. Passage of this legislation demonstrates Oregon’s commitment to best practices for youth and recognition that tough crime policy is not the same as smart policy. There is so much about Oregon’s approach to juvenile justice that is smart and effective, but there is more that can be done for Oregon’s youth. This report examines additional avenues for Oregon to reexamine policies related to trying youth as adults, specifically Measure 11. Oregon voters passed Measure 11 in November 1994. The measure created new manda- tory minimum sentences for 16 crimes and required that youth charged with those crimes be tried as adults. The legislature subsequently added more crimes to Measure 11. Today, Measure 11 requires youth ages 15 years or older charged with one of 21 crimes to be pros- ecuted automatically in the adult criminal justice system and if convicted of that crime, to serve the same mandatory sentence that applies to adults. Summary Executive Fifteen years after Measure 11 was enacted, the Campaign for Youth Justice and Partner- ship for Safety and Justice embarked on a study to determine the impact that Measure 11 was having on youth in Oregon. The authors analyzed data on 3,274 young people indicted with Measure 11 offenses since 1995. The authors also looked at a subset of 759 cases handled between 2006 and 2008 to understand the current way Measure 11 is being imple- mented in the 36 Oregon counties. 3 FINDINGS We now know about the detrimental impact that Measure 11 is having on youth and the public in Oregon. We have also learned that there are better ways to help curb delinquency and rehabilitate youth than trying youth in the adult system. The passage of House Bill 2707 reflects one way in which new information about youth and the public safety system has been implemented through a change in policy. This report provides Oregonians with additional reasons to reconsider trying youth as adults. Measure 11 for juveniles has not made Oregonians any safer. 1 While serious crime by adults and by young people has declined in Oregon since the passage of Measure 11, increased imprisonment and adult convictions of youth have not driven down the crime rate. Over the three-year period from 2006 to 2008, data from the 36 Oregon counties show no discernible pattern between the number of young people charged with a Measure 11 offense and the juvenile crime rate. The data show that counties that convict more young people under Measure 11 do not see better public safety outcomes, and that counties that have sent more youth to secure custody as a result of Mea- sure 11 haven’t seen less crime. Most youth do not have the benefit of an impartial judge evaluating their case. 2 Instead, prosecutors make the final decision in 92% of the cases. Voters were promised predictability when they passed Measure 11. However, considerable variation exists in how Measure 11 is implemented by prosecutors’ offices across Oregon. This report shows that nine out of 10 young people indicted for a Measure 11 offense do not go to trial. While plea agreements are a critical tool to help overburdened courts process cases, the high rate of pleas is problematic in the youth context. The fact that 92% of the time youth are entering pleas in adult court means that there is little opportunity for the back-and-forth discussions that might happen in a juvenile courtroom—where the needs of the victim, the community, and the young person can be identified and balanced. Many youth charged with Measure 11 offenses are not the most serious 3 youthful offenders. Fifteen years ago, Measure 11 was marketed to Oregonians as a way to deal with the most serious youth offenders and ensure that those youth would get long prison sentences. However, data in this report show that the law is being applied to youth in far less serious situations. The data show that: • Most youth charged with a Measure 11 offense are convicted of a non-Measure 11 crime. Six out of 10 youth charged with a Measure 11 crime that automatically requires adult court prosecution will not be convicted of a Measure 11 crime; they will instead be convicted of a crime outside of Measure 11 parameters. Nonetheless, these youth will receive the lifelong stigma of having an adult court conviction. Misguided Measures: The Outcomes and Impacts of Measure 11 on Oregon’s Youth 11 on Oregon’s and Impacts of Measure The Outcomes Misguided Measures: 4 • One in three youth convicted of an adult offense via the Measure 11 charging process do not receive adult prison sentences. From 2006 to 2008, 36% of all the youth convicted of an adult offense via the Measure 11 charging process were eventually placed on adult probation. If these youth were truly the worst of the worst, it is hard to understand why a district attorney would agree to pleas allowing a third of youth to return directly to the community. • Youth who end up in the adult court as a result of a Measure 11 charge are not necessarily those who are at the biggest risk to reoffend. Youth who have an adult conviction have been assessed by the Oregon Youth Authority to be at lower risk to reoffend than other youth within their custody and control. In other words, Oregon is using scarce resources unnecessarily to incarcerate less serious youth sentenced under Measure 11. When a young person is charged with a Measure 11 crime, 4 he or she can spend time in an adult jail. Prior to the passage of Measure 11, there was little public discussion about where youth would be housed during their incarceration. In Oregon, if someone 16 or 17 years old is charged with a Measure 11 offense, he or she may be detained in an adult jail pretrial based on an Oregon statute that made adult jail the default place for pretrial detention. However, Oregon legislators recently passed House Bill 2707 to make juvenile detention facilities the default placement of youth held on Measure 11 charges, making it more likely that youth will now be housed in juvenile detention facilities. Measure 11 has had significant costs for all Oregonians, but it has different
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